Open AccessExperience and lessons learned from multi-modal internet-based recruitment of U.S. Vietnamese into research
Author(s) -
Milkie Vu,
Victoria N. Huynh,
Robert A. Bednarczyk,
Cam Escoffery,
Danny Ta,
Tien Thi Kieu Nguyen,
Carla J. Berg
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0256074
Subject(s) - vietnamese , snowball sampling , acculturation , ethnic group , psychology , data collection , the internet , medicine , gerontology , demography , computer science , sociology , world wide web , social science , philosophy , linguistics , pathology , anthropology
Background Asian-Americans are one of the most understudied racial/ethnic minority populations. To increase representation of Asian subgroups, researchers have traditionally relied on data collection at community venues and events. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has created serious challenges for in-person data collection. In this case study, we describe multi-modal strategies for online recruitment of U.S. Vietnamese parents, compare response rates and participant characteristics among strategies, and discuss lessons learned. Methods We recruited 408 participants from community-based organizations (CBOs) (n = 68), Facebook groups (n = 97), listservs (n = 4), personal network (n = 42), and snowball sampling (n = 197). Using chi-square tests and one-way analyses of variance, we compared participants recruited through different strategies regarding sociodemographic characteristics, acculturation-related characteristics, and mobile health usage. Results The overall response rate was 71.8% (range: 51.5% for Vietnamese CBOs to 86.6% for Facebook groups). Significant differences exist for all sociodemographic and almost all acculturation-related characteristics among recruitment strategies. Notably, CBO-recruited participants were the oldest, had lived in the U.S. for the longest duration, and had the lowest Vietnamese language ability. We found some similarities between Facebook-recruited participants and those referred by Facebook-recruited participants. Mobile health usage was high and did not vary based on recruitment strategies. Challenges included encountering fraudulent responses (e.g., non-Vietnamese). Perceived benefits and trust appeared to facilitate recruitment. Conclusions Facebook and snowball sampling may be feasible strategies to recruit U.S. Vietnamese. Findings suggest the potential for mobile-based research implementation. Perceived benefits and trust could encourage participation and may be related to cultural ties. Attention should be paid to recruitment with CBOs and handling fraudulent responses.